Author: delsandy

Partial repeal

| by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

The death penalty repeal bill was the only legislation on the Judiciary Committee voting list.

The first amendment that was offered would have maintained capital punishment for contract murder.

What I said in response applied equally to the nine that followed.

“The question before us is whether we should end the death penalty.   You can’t have a partial repeal.

The flaws in this process – innocence, race, time, and money – don’t go away if you allow for executions in this one circumstance or any other.”

All of the amendments were defeated.  The favorable report passed, 14-8.

 

Crucial support

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“I think the governor has worked this bill [to repeal the death penalty] very hard prior to session and early in session and secured the votes he needs to make sure it’s passed,” Senator Joseph Getty said after the legislation passed the Senate.

There are such bills, where numerous trades must be made to secure passage.  The gas tax will be one.

Death penalty repeal is not.

The Governor’s support has been crucial to getting us where we are today.

So has that of Ben Jealous of the NAACP, numerous religious leaders, and grass roots organizers and advocates.

Most importantly, my colleagues have concluded that our death penalty system cannot be fixed.

Our constituents agree.

I have participated in countless voting sessions over my career.

Tomorrow, when we give a favorable report to the death penalty repeal bill, we will make history.

Listen carefully

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Why do we need this bill?

Every bill sponsor must answer that question satisfactorily.

Twice today, I had conversations about possible compromises on bills that were opposed last year by a government agency in one instance and an industry group in the other.

In both instances, they now prefer to help write the law, instead of responding to an unfavorable court decision.

—-

After the death penalty repeal bill passed the Senate this morning, someone asked me how I would prep for the floor debate in the House.

“I’ve been prepping for the death penalty debate for the last 30 years.”

Know the case for your bill and listen carefully to the other side’s arguments so that you can effectively respond.

Sailing into the headwinds

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In the mornings, I often run into a Naval Academy grad (Class of 1957) taking his daily walk.

“Have you raised my taxes yet?”  he frequently asks.

I know the answer he doesn’t want to hear.

Yesterday, the Governor announced his proposal to increase the gas tax to raise money to improve the state’s transportation infrastructure.

When I ran into my neighbor today, I decided to sail into the headwinds.

I told him what the Governor had done.

“Why do we need to do that?”  he asked.

“To compete with Virginia, which has increased its tax to improve its system,” I responded.

“Why does that matter?” he replied.

I thought about saying that we could compete with Mississippi instead but thought better of it.

A list of the 14

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“I don’t want to jinx myself,” I told the reporter.

He had asked me to comment off the record about our chances to pass death penalty repeal in the House.

We expect the bill will pass the Senate this week, but it hasn’t yet.

Hence my reluctance.

But if/when the bill gets to the House, the vote in the Judiciary Committee could come swiftly.

I now have a list of the 14 “Yes” votes in the committee – the members who have committed to vote for repeal.

I will ask each of them to reaffirm their position and to vote against any amendments that might be offered.

They would kill the bill.

Guns and the law

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Around 10:30 last night, I read the bill.

The hearing on the Governor’s Firearm Safety Act began at 1:00.

Initially, I was turned off by the opponents’ bogus claims that any regulation of gun possession, including an ownership fee, violated the 2nd Amendment.

These people surely aren’t absolutists about other protections in the Bill of Rights.  The Supreme Court isn’t.

For example, a tax on newspapers does not violate the freedom of the press, unless it targets them for different treatment than other businesses.

(I read those cases around midnight.  The bill hearing would last until 3:00.)

As the hearing wore on, there were fewer constitutional claims and more personal stories.

Some declared that they would leave Maryland if the bill became law.  Many others said it would make them criminals.

Massive civil disobedience?  I hadn’t read about that happening in New York after a law was enacted there in January.

So I read the Governor’s bill.

Assault weapons would be banned on October 1.  If you already owned such weapons, they would not be taken away from you, but you would have to register them.

Gun owners would become criminals only if they chose not to obey the law.  That’s not the same as saying that the bill would make you a criminal.

Annapolis etiquette says that you don’t question the accuracy of testimony by a member of the public.

However, I told a Republican colleague that if he made that false claim during the debate on the bill in committee or the House floor, I would not be silent.

Win-wins at Pimlico

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All parking is local.

For the last ten years, approximately 1,000 employees of Sinai Hospital and the Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital have parked on the Preakness Way lot of the Pimlico Race Course – except on Preakness Day.

They are a short walk or shuttle ride from their jobs.

And they are not parking in the nearby residential neighborhoods of Cylburn, Sunset, and Levindale.

A win-win for everybody.

Pimlico needs to construct 300 stables when the Bowie training facility closes, as well as housing for backstretch employees.

Four weeks ago, the track submitted a preliminary construction plan with the stables and housing located on the Preakness Way lot.

My 41st District colleagues and I expressed our concerns with the negative effect this would have upon the track’s neighbors – our constituents.

Pimlico and Sinai officials met today.

When the Preakness Way lot needs to be vacated, the track will provide parking at another location, most likely the Belvedere and Park Heights lot.

Another win-win for everybody.

The real reason and fighting the last war

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 There’s the reason and there’s the real reason, goes an Annapolis maxim.

Translation: the stated reason may not be the actual reason why something happened.

This morning, I met with a group of doctors, who asked me to oppose a certain bill.

“Who’s the sponsor?” I asked.

The name didn’t tell me anything about who wanted the bill to pass.

“What group supports the bill?” I asked.

That answer was the real sponsor.

—-

Legislators and lobbyists, like generals, always fight the last war.

Last year, several co-sponsors of the marriage equality bill changed their minds and voted against the bill.

No one wants that fate to befall their bill this session.

A lobbyist emailed me about a bill that I’m cosponsoring.

“We are now working to confirm co-sponsors, supporters, soft supporters and any undecideds on the bill… Taking no vote for granted, can I put you down as a YES in support for the bill when it gets to the House floor?”

When the time comes to count to 71 for a House vote on death penalty repeal, we won’t take any vote for granted, even those of our co-sponsors.

 

Reading, Writing, and IT

| by delsandy | featured, Sandy's Israel Diary - June 2012 | No Comments

A legislator has to know how to count.

It helps to know how to read and write.

I’ve been searching for the right way to amend one of my bills.  Late yesterday, I reread the bill and found just the right provision to change.

An email I received this morning from another delegate began, “Sandy, I wanted you to be among the first to know about an important decision I’ve made.”

Was this colleague changing his position on death penalty repeal?  I feared.

I read on and realized that this was an email sent to the delegate’s 2,000 closest friends and constituents to let them know that he would be voting for repeal.

One of my cardinal rules is to draft the bill or document so that my words frame the discussion that follows.

Except when you don’t know enough about the issue to do so.

Information technology was the issue during a discussion of one of my bills.

I asked the other party to draft the document.

A task force by another’s name

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A new concept, however worthy, is not likely to pass the first time it’s introduced.

This past summer, I read about social impact bonds.

These bonds seek to align the interests of investors with a desirable social outcome.   Typically, when the government contracts with a nonprofit, it makes payment based upon the volume of services delivered.  With a social impact bond, the bondholders pay the service provider and are reimbursed by the government only if the desired outcomes occur.

These programs originated in the United Kingdom, where they decreased recidivism rates.  Other states are experimenting with social impact bonds, with Massachusetts leading the way.

I introduced a bill that would require the State Board of Education to issue requests for proposals for social impact bonds.  I had attended a conference about pre-kindergarten services where these bonds were discussed.

I didn’t expect House Bill 517 to pass but hoped that the public hearing tomorrow would prompt the Ways and Means Committee to create a study group.

This weekend, I learned that a colleague already had that idea.

Delegate Waldstreicher’s legislation would establish a task force.  His bill is before the Appropriations Committee, which can pass his bill or include language in the budget bill to achieve the same objective.

I’ve withdrawn my bill and will testify beside Del. Waldstreicher.

  • My Key Issues:

  • Pimlico and The Preakness
  • Our Neighborhoods
  • Pre-Kindergarten
  • Lead Paint Poisoning